Agenda

Feraye Ozfescioglu, CEO World Humanitarian Forum

Advisory Board Members:
Rt Hon Jack Straw
Richard Hawkes
Mark Astarita
Dr Mohan Kaul
Fatima Gailani
Nedal Juma
Neil Rodrigues
Charlie Bronks

From Hope to Possibility: Bridging the Gap
*Keynotes are delivered by champions of humanitarian and development work.

A Focus on refugee crisis:  Changing the narrative

This session will address the issue of displacement and migration. It will highlight the current plight of economic migrants and refugees from Africa to Mexico. The panelists will discuss what's causing the migration and what we need to do to solve this. The discussion will cover government policies, role of NGOs, PPPs, role of media and the multilateral organisations like the UN. Are we doing enough to help those who are fleeing war torn nations? How can we change the narrative so that they are embraced and accepted, instead of being ill-treated and harmed? How can we engage the private sector to play a key role in tackling this challenge?

GENDER EQUALITY: It will take 108 years to close the gender gap. Did you know only 6 countries give women equal legal work rights as men! Shocking, isn't it? Why are we failing in achieving this? Our panelists will discuss what they have done to bridge this gap. What are the biggest challenges and how can we push the agenda from hope to possibility?

By 2030, the target date for the sustainable development goals, it is projected that the number of youth in Africa will increase by 42 per cent to 321 million. This is expected to put additional pressure on the already strained education and health care services, housing and employment across the continent raising the need for proper planning by the authorities. In this session we will discuss how we must harness the youth dividend to meet development goals.

This session will focus on new models of impact investment in the development sector. There is a spending gap of about $1 trillion per year if even minimum service delivery standards necessary to meet the SDGs are to be met. Traditional funding models cannot help bridge the funding gap. We need to think of new ways and means to achieve this. Aid alone cannot be enough to help countries achieve their development agenda. The panelists will discuss new models such as blended finance impact bonds and public-private partnerships. 

The Changemaker Awards, are a set of awards that recognise the exceptional efforts of inspiring leaders, and innovative initiatives and partnerships within the humanitarian industry. They provide merit to those who have provided smart solutions for global challenges. Since 2017, the awards are given annually by the World Humanitarian Advisory Board. The third award ceremony in April 2019 was held at the launch of the World Humanitarian Forum in London. We are delighted to announce the launch of Youth Changemaker Award to be hosted at the high-level 2020 Forum. The award recognises the exceptional efforts of inspiring 'under 30's' across the Humanitarian Aid and Development sectors.

Despite progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, Africa continues to lag behind most of the world when it comes to socioeconomic development.  More than half of the global poor (those who earn under $1.90 PPP per day) are found in Africa. One in three Africans is at the risk of food insecurity. It requires poverty alleviation, ending starvation and malnutrition, implementing sustainable development and harnessing the demographic dividend. Heads of State will outline their vision and challenges, discuss policies that worked. Multilateral institutions will highlight the work they do to address the challenges and NGOs will share their case studies. Can the African Free Trade agreement do the trick?

We are faced with inequality on various fronts - from gender, wealth to opportunities. In this session, we will focus on inequality in education and how can we bridge it? Can technology play a role here? PPPS?

In international development, the number of partnerships between the public and private sector (PPPs) has risen in recent years. But discussion around the efficacy of PPPs has become increasingly polarised. Panellists will discuss successful case studies and outline challenges.